With a day of sunshine and a lot of showers, there wasn't much chance of going for a walk. So instead it was a bit of back garden wildlife hunting. On the Buddleia maximums of
Small Tortoiseshells were 4, with no other species of butterfly venturing out. The only insects to join them were 3
Drone Flies and my favourite hoverfly the
Volucella zonaria. Unfortunately
Volucella flew off before I could photograph it. The photograph below is one I took two days ago, so possibly the same hoverfly! The
Comma caterpillar is still munching away on the nettles and seems to be doing okay. For more facts on
Drone Flies click
Here.
Small Tortoiseshell
Small Tortoiseshell
Small Tortoiseshell using a macro lens within 5cm of it.
With sun disappearing behind the clouds this Small Tortoiseshell gets a little bit of warmth from the stones.
A Drone Fly shares the Buddleia with one of 4 Small Tortoiseshells present today. Compared with the other Drone Fly images I took, this one here shows a lot of white across its abdomen and the back of its head. Not something I've seen before.
As there were only 3 Drone Flies present, when viewed from above like this one, there is no white markings showing at all.
Drone Flies mimic the Drones of a Honeybee.
Here a pair feed on the nectar from the Buddleia.
And then rest up on the leaves for a bit of heat.
A close-up
And even closer
The Caterpillar of the Comma butterfly is doing very well on the nettles.
Though I didn't photograph it today, here are a few of the hoverfly the Volucella zonaria from two days ago.
Volucella zonaria
Volucella zonaria
Volucella zonaria
Volucella zonaria
